Mark The Latte Boy
by ILikeScarvesAndGuitars
Summary: Mark the latte boy, bring us java...bring us joy? Heh, new summary, same fic! Enjoy, please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Mark the Latte Boy is now here! –Waits for cheers from all you wonderful people- This is my second time writing it, considering the fact that a week ago all my files were lost on my computer. I really hope this satisfies and please please R&R. Please.  
**

* * *

"I need a job."

It was a hot day in the city and Mark really had nothing else to do with his life, other then filming things.

"You aren't the only one."

Roger sat across from him, sipping coffee and reading the paper also. Roger did want to get a job, only if it allowed him to stay inside the house or something.

Mark scanned the paper. He wasn't getting anywhere. He couldn't find anything that he could do.

"Here, help me." Mark gave half of the classifieds to his best friend.

"Ugh fine, but I was reading an interesting article about…cows or something like that."

"So? You can read it later. Help me now."

Roger rolled his eyes and took the paper, quickly scanning it.

"Hey, they want a dancer at the Catscratch. I have an idea! You and Mimi could work together! You could be some freaky S&M team….dancing with handcuffs and lawn chairs or something." Roger smirked and dodged the pillow Mark had thrown at him, but didn't stop there.

"Mark Cohen, clad only in…film strips, will perform his famous scarf - bike dance to the sounds of…pictures…being taken!."

"Roger shut up. Be serious. I need a real job."

"Well you _can_ dance on tables."

Mark resisted throwing something heavier at his friend when he spotted something that sparked his interest.

"Look at this! They want somebody to work at Starbucks fulltime! That's perfect! I could just ride my bike or take the subway there."

"Starbucks?" Roger wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah, as in the coffee shop?"

"Dude I know what it is, I'm just saying…isn't it a bit too mainstream?"

"Is anybody _in_ the mainstream?"

"Good point." Roger sighed.

"Look I know the loft will seem sad and empty without me, but--"

"Aha!" Roger laughed, "Miss you? Man, I see you everyday. I can't wait to have the loft all to myself, I can brush my hair all I want….I can invite Mimi over…we can --"

"Yeah I get your point." Mark rolled is eyes and put on a light sweater, and checked his bike to make sure the tires were full of air.

"What? Are you going there now? Why don't you wait?"

Mark shrugged. "The position might be gone till morning. Besides, I want the job now."

"Who says they are going to hire you?"

"Oh how hard could it be? Pouring coffee into mugs and things like that…"

"Uh Mark? Have you ever been to Starbucks before? It's pretty crazy."

Mark's face went red. "Once…well…I went past there once…does that count?"

"No."

"Fine, whatever. Come on, I can handle it. I've lived with you for how long? I pour coffee basically everyday. I doubt anybody can be worse then you…always complaining about random things."

"I never do that."

"Like two hours ago you were saying that our refrigerator was really loud!"

"And your point _is_?"

"Okay, I need to get out of here," Mark muttered, opening the loft's door and rolled his bike out, "I'll be back in a few hours, don't get too lonely."

"Yeah whatever, good luck. I still think you have a better chance at the Catscratch."

Roger's suggestion was shut out by the sound of Mark slamming their loft door.

A few minutes passed and Roger leaned against their counter, sipping his coffee.

The hum of the fridge was getting louder by the moment, and suddenly their power was out.

"Well that takes care of that."

* * *

**Please R&R :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I hardly know anything about New York streets or anything (although I have been there once and I have been to two Starbucks there, so I have **_**some **_**credit), so this Starbucks is basically anywhere in NYC. Enjoy and please R&R.  
****Disclaimer: Own nada.

* * *

**A few minutes later, after taking the subway to the Starbucks that needed the help, Mark found himself parking his bike outside the store, hoping nobody would steal it, and walked inside the air conditioned coffee shop.

As he had expected, it was pretty packed. Three cashes were open and running, and lines seemed to fill all them.

"They really do need help." Mark muttered as he took his place behind the shortest line he could see. He wasn't sure exactly _how_ he would go about asking if they would hire him, so getting in line and asking one of the cashiers (_was that what they call them?_ He wondered) seemed like the best way possible.

He stood in line for about ten minutes, and his nerves were starting to kick in. The girl in front of him was just finishing up her order.

"Neeeext." The girl at the counter yelled, her voice trying to cover all the noise in the store.

Mark shyly stepped forward, his heart was racing.

"Um…." He searched his mind for the question he wanted.

"Can ah take ya ordah?" The girl asked, a thick New York accent was pounding out of her.

"Um, see well I saw…the ad, in the newspaper?" Mark was starting to feel less more shy now.

"Oh yeah! For a new coffee girl?" She smiled and then corrected herself. "Or a coffee boy, whateva. Yeah! We need one of those! Here."

Without any warning, the girl grabbed Mark by the arm and pulled him around the counter.

"Go in there." She pointed to a door before shoving Mark toward it.

Now he was scared.

He slowly made his way to the door with the sign 'Manager' on it.

He opened it a little and peeked inside, and spotted a blonde haired girl sitting in a chair around a big glass table.

"Um, hi, I was…I _am _inquiring about a job here? I saw the ad in the newspaper." Mark said, a little too loudly, causing the girl to jump in her seat a little and look up at him.

"Ohmigod yeah! Hi! Come in." She smiled, getting up immediately. The grin on her face almost made her look like an idiot.

Mark walked in, and started to doubt if this was a good idea after all.

"Sit down, sit down." She smiled, pulling up a chair for a now very much frightened Mark Cohen.

_Do I really wanna work in a place where half of these people are hyper from the cause of too much coffee? _Mark asked himself, wearily sitting down in the chair.

"So," the woman started, "My name is Debbie, with two b's." she laughed, pointing to her name tag.

"Mark...I'm Mark." He stuttered a little. He hated introducing himself. He put out his hand to shake hers, but instead, she gave him a high-five.

"I don't believe in handshakes." She smiled.

_This woman is really out of it._

Mark returned the smile, his being more forced then hers, and continued.

"Like I said, I saw the ad in the newspaper for here…it's still available, right?"

"Of course!! Even if it wasn't, I'm sure we could make a few acceptions for you." She winked, and tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder.

Mark's eyebrows rose in surprise and could feel his face going red. She reminded him so much of Maureen, it was kinda scary.

But if she starting calling him 'pookie', he knew he would have to draw the line somewhere.

"Okay so let's talk about your past jobs," Debbie, with two b's, started, crossing her legs. "Do you have a resume?"

_Shit_. He had totally forgotten one.

"Um no, even if I did it would be pretty blank." He said, his face getting even redder.

"Oh well that's fine. Just tell me your past experiences."

"Um well….I was a production manager…and, uh…I worked for Buzzline. I'm a filmmaker." He said quickly.

_Please hire me please hire me._

Debbie nodded, running her hand through her hair. "Well I was thinking more, _coffee shop _jobs, if you know what I mean. Have you ever worked at a coffee shop before?"

"Uh…" Mark shifted in his chair uncomfortably.

_Make something up! _A little voice said in the back of his mind. _Roger would do it!_

"Well, I did know somebody who worked at a coffee shop one time."

This wasn't entirely a lie. He was sure Maureen dated somebody at a coffee shop at some point.

"Oh! Did they like it?" Debbie asked, obviously delighted.

"Of course." Mark smiled.

_When all else fails, use charm. _

"Great! You got the job!" Debbie said, grabbing Mark's hand and high-fiving it.

Mark's jaw dropped, and he quickly closed it before she took her offer back.

"Just like that?"

"Uh huh!"

"But…"

"Well we _do_ need some cute workers around here. I mean, I can't just fill that job myself." She smiled, nodding her head at a rapid pace.

"But I--"

"Well your work experience is kinda empty but you gotta start somewhere, right?"

"I guess--"

"And you will have to go through some training, you know, knowing which drinks are what….what buttons to press, that kind of stuff. It's easy, trust me."

"Thank you…so much." Still in shock, Mark got up and slowly gathered his stuff; He quickly walked towards the door, not wanting to endure in another high-five session with her.

"Another thing," Debbie said, causing Mark to turn around, "Don't be late. I _hate_ it when people are late." She was still smiling like an idiot but her eyes were wide and fierce.

"Uh sure, of course." Mark said, a little puzzled on how such a happy woman could go from slightly crazy to just regular crazy.

"Okay, well see you then!" her voice had a sing-song quality to it.

Mark made his way out of the shop, a small grin on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yay everybody seems to like this so far!! I'm very happy. I'm not sure how many chapters Ima write but I never really plan it out so we will have to see.****I'm wondering if I should make this Mark/OC when it was brought to my attention by a lovely reviewer, so I'm not sure exactly what I'll do. We can see where my typing fingers will take me : Enjoy!  
****Disclaimer: Yes I own Rent and so I just write fics for kicks. Please. I own nothing except two Adam Pascal cd's and a poster. Oh! And I don't own the lyrics to Taylor the Latte Boy either. I'm not that smart.**

The next day Mark got up extra early to catch a subway to his new place of employment.

He was greeted by the same girl who he had met yesterday. Sadly, she greeted him the same way.

Mark was scared he was going to lose an arm if she kept pulling on it.

"Mah name is Kelly." She said, blowing a bubble and popping it.

She handed him a name tag (Mark had always wanted one of those) and started to show him around.

"So, this is the button that does this; this is the button that does that." She would often instruct, chewing gum at the same time.

Mark would nod and try to keep up. He also lost interest in ever chewing gum ever again. Watching her chew it so loudly and so…._obnoxiously_ made him sick.

Another thing Mark lost interest in was coffee. It was _everywhere_. It was in _everything._ That's what the whole place smelled like.

After about an hour tour, Mark was finally,

"A latte boy!" Kelly shrieked.

Mark laughed uneasily, and tried not to inhale anymore coffee fumes.

If he did, he knew he would be close to tossing his breakfast all over the floor.

He was sure he would be fired then.

He spent the rest of the day doing whatever Kelly wanted him to do.

"You'll be at the cash tomorrow." She explained on a break, twirling her hair.

Mark just nodded in his usual Mark-fashion and agreed to anything she asked him to do.

He spent the rest of his shift sweeping the floor, which wasn't too much fun.

Finally when his shift was up, Kelly high fived him.

"Awesome job! You caaaan really sweep up tha floor!" she laughed, almost spitting her gum at the same time.

Mark winced and nodded thanks.

He was never so happy to get out of a coffee shop in his life.

* * *

That night Mark and Roger met Joanne, Maureen, Angel, Collins and Mimi at the Life Café.

He knew everybody would be grilling about his job like Roger had been doing for the past few nights.

"So how was it?" he asked for the umpteenth time while walking to the favorite hangout.

"Alright. Smelled like coffee."

"Dude, it's a coffee shop. What do you want it to smell like? Beans?"

"Well, there _are _such things as coffee beans--"

"Okay bad example."

The rest of the walk was in silence. Mark hated talking about himself so he knew this night was going to be pure hell.

As soon as they stepped into the restaurant, Mark could feel his face flush.

"Markyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy." Maureen practically screamed, waving her arms in the air.

Joanne rolled her eyes and tried to coax Maureen to shut up.

Mark watched as Mimi laughed, putting her feet up on the table in Mimi-way; Collins smiling mindlessly and lighting a joint; Angel smiled, adjusted her skirt and politely asked Collins if he could share the joint with her.

It felt like home. Better then some coffee shop, anyway, Mark thought.

As the walked over, Mark braced himself for the huge hug he expected that he would get from Maureen.

And he was right.

"Oh Marky! I haven't seen you in such a long time." Maureen squealed, holding him tightly.

"Okay, that's enough." Joanne sighed, pulling her girlfriend off of Mark.

Mark blushed deeply and took off his coat. Everybody around him was talking.

Or making out, in Mimi and Roger's case.

"God, do you guys always have to do that whenever you see each other?" Collins asked, inhaling the joint and passing it to Angel.

"And you two don't ever have a make out session in public at _all_." Roger pointed out.

"Can we please change the conversation?" Mark asked. He suddenly regretted this as soon as Maureen agreed.

"Yeah! Let's talk about Mark's new job!"

Mark looked over at Roger who smirked with an 'I told you so' look on his face.

Everybody agreed on this subject, except, of course, Mark did not.

"There isn't too much to talk about." Mark mumbled, looking down to avoid any eye contact with anybody.

"Oh come on Mark! You have a job!" Angel smiled, taking a quick sip of her drink.

"Well Joanne has a job; we don't always talk about that." Mark said, trying to push off all the attention.

"Yeah but this is your first real job! Okay well second, really, but you're a coffee shop boy!" Maureen smiled.

"Well I--"

"He is a….LATTE BOY!" Mimi joined in laughing.

"Maaark the latteeee boyyyy." Maureen began to sing.

"Bring me java…bring me joy!" Mimi chimed.

"Ooooh Marrrk the latteeee boyyy….I love him," Angel's smile was huge as she joined the song.

"I love him, I love himmmmm." The three finally finished.

Everybody exploded into applause except Mark, who could feel his skin get hotter by the second.

"Next time I wanna join in." Joanne smirked.

"Oh Pookie, don't worry, I'm sure we will sing and embarrass Mark again." Maureen promised, slipping a hand around her waist.

Mark buried his head in his hands and stopped himself from banging his head against the table.

It was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Oh.My.God. You have no idea how happy I am about the reviews. I seriously love you guys. Thank you so much. 23 reviews and counting for a THREE chapter fic! Like you have no idea how awesome this is! LMAO. I'm so happy for such positive feedback. Thank you so much!!  
****Disclaimer: Yada yada yada, I don't own Rent. **

* * *

The get together lasted way longer into the night then Mark had hoped for it to.

The worst part about it was that he knew he had to be into work the next day.

"Guys….I think I should go home now." Mark said more then once during the night.

"Oh come on Marky, stay a few more minutes!" somebody would reply.

He would sigh and agree.

As the clock neared 1:00 AM, Mark knew there would be hell to pay.

"Look, you guys, I can't be late for work."

Everybody stopped what they were doing/drinking/eating and looked at Mark.

"Well nobody is _forcing_ you to stay here, Mark." Maureen sneered a little.

"Yeah but--"

"Go home, man, if you don't wanna stay with us." Collins suggested, his voice dipping a little from the rum and coke he was now drinking.

"Well I do--"

"Let the boy get some rest." Joanne finally said.

Once again, Mark was feeling a little disowned. He shyly got up and put on his jacket as everybody watched in silence.

"I'll see you guys later." He mumbled and walked out of the Café.

* * *

At six o'clock sharp, Mark's old radio clock started to beep.

His head was aching and he _knew_ he needed way more sleep.

Suddenly his new job didn't seem too great anymore.

He stepped into the shower and made sure to make it a quick one.

He had a half an hour to get ready and he had to be in to work by 7.

He got out of the shower, and steam whirled all around him. He didn't want to leave this.

What he really wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep until forever. Then he wanted to go out and film pigeons or people or_ something. _Then he wanted to listen to Roger complain about hating the world and Mark could sit and sympathize with him.

Cause Mark was really starting to hate the world too.

And the smell of coffee.

He slowly got dressed and clipped his nametag onto his shirt.

He walked out of the loft, the weather being a little cool for late summer, and hopped on his bike, zooming along the narrow and crumbling sidewalks.

* * *

His subway ride had been a short one, and he arrived five minutes before he was due to work.

He sat outside Starbucks for a few minutes, not wanting to go in and talk to anybody. Or get his arm pulled once again.

He was starting to wonder why everybody was getting ticked off at him for wanting to leave last night.

_Don't they understand I have responsibility now?_ He thought. He could feel his cheeks heating up and he felt a little lonely.

_Nobody ever tries to understand. _He knew he had to stop thinking about it. He would deal with it later.

_Just play the game._

* * *

Most of his morning consisted of pouring coffee and working the cash, which, was really easy. So far he had served mostly business people and old men. This wasn't too bad, considering they weren't too demanding.

But around 8:11, Mark noticed a gorgeous young woman walk towards _his_ counter.

"Oh God." He muttered, feeling his face go red. He was never very good talking to women. Let alone actually take their orders.

She smiled as she set her wallet on his counter, scanning the different signs set around the counter.

"H--how are you?" Mark asked, trying to smile and act professional.

"Oh I'm great!" the girl smiled back. She had a huge smile and big blue eyes. Her hair was pinned up into a loose bun and Mark couldn't exactly see what she was wearing without completely staring at her. That would be rude and, with Mark's luck, she would probably slap him and call him a perverted stalker.

"Have you decided what you want?" He nervously asked.

_Couldn't somebody else serve her?_

"A latté, please." She asked, opening her wallet to take out some change.

As soon as she said 'latte' Mark was sure Mimi or Maureen was behind this.

"Did Mimi and Maureen put you up to this?" he asked, trying to control the tone of his voice.

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Who?"

"M-Mimi Marquez and Maureen J-Johnson."

"What?"

"They told you to do this, didn't they?" Mark's voice was raising and he was getting angrier by the second.

"What the hell are you talking about?" By this time, her voice was as loud as it could possible go and everybody in the shop stopped what they were doing at turned to stare at them.

_How could they do this to him?_

"That's it, I'm out of here." She said, her cheeks were red from embarrassment and her eyes were starting to well up with tears.

Slowly Mark took off his apron and put it on a hook.

He didn't care if his crazy boss fired him for leaving early.

Mark left the store, took his bike and proceeded to the subway stop.

_Mimi and Maureen aren't going to know what hit them._

Mark was right. They had no idea.

* * *

…**okay a bit of a twist but I need to make things exciting, right? Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for the support! Continue to R&R! If you want a taste of random, I suggest you read my quick OneShot 'Would You Lick My Fingers?'. Very random.**

* * *

Mark bounded into the loft, his face was red and his lips were tight.

The first person he saw was Mimi. Sadly for her, she had no idea what was going on.

"Hey Mark!" Mimi smiled, peeling herself off of Roger who she was straddling.

"How could you?" Mark yelled at her, hands clenching into fists. "You and Maureen always have to get into everybody's business."

"What?" The stripper's eyes were wide with confusion.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Roger asked, his arm protectively over his girlfriends shoulder.

Both watched as Mark walked over to the front of the couch they were sitting with, his hands now in his pockets, something he did was he was extremely upset.

"You two asked the girl to go into Starbucks and ask me for a Latte. Hence, _Latte Boy._"

"What? We didn't do that."

"Oh and I suppose it's just a coincidence that she's the only one who ordered a Latte the entire morning I was working there?"

"Um, yes."

Mark sighed, his hands still tightly in his pockets.

"If you guys don't like my job, deal with it. You don't have to complain and make fun of it." With that, Mark headed towards his bedroom, closing the door with a loud bang.

Roger and Mimi looked at each other quizzically.

"Sometimes I wonder what's going through his head." Roger said, rolling his eyes and squeezing Mimi's shoulder.

"Yeah but… I don't know…I feel bad." Mimi said, pulling away from Roger a little. "I'm going to go talk to Maureen."

"You think she had something to do with this?"

"Well it's possible…I mean…you never know with Maureen."

"True."

Mimi stood up, pulling up Roger with her.

"I don't wanna go see Maureen…" He sighed, trying to sit back down again.

"Please?"

"No."

"_Rogerrrrr_." Mimi sighed. "Come on. You never go out of the loft."

"So?" Roger picked up a handful of stale popcorn and shoved it in his mouth to stop the conversation.

"Fine." Mimi muttered.

"Goood lucksh." Roger attempted to say, popcorn spilling out of his mouth.

"You are disgusting." Mimi laughed, opening the loft door and slamming it a little behind her.

Roger smirked and when he was sure she was gone, he quickly walked over to the trash can and spit out the popcorn.

"_That's _disgusting." He gagged, wiping his mouth.

* * *

Mark lay on his bed, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling.

He felt sad, alone, and tired. He could never understand why he was always the odd man out in his group of friends.

Roger and Mimi, Mimi had Roger. Collins had Angel. Angel had Collins. Maureen had Joanne. And usually, if everything was going well, Joanne had Maureen.

Who did Mark have?

"Nobody." He whispered to himself, feeling his cheeks go red again.

Another thing he didn't understand was why everybody hated him for getting a job.

After months of people asking him what he was going _besides_ film making, _besides _anything he actually liked to do, he does something different. And nobody can have the nerve to respect it.

He couldn't understand why Maureen and Mimi would do such a thing. As much as Mimi denied it, he couldn't help but feel that Maureen had something to do with it. She was always trying to screw up his life somehow.

Leaving him for a woman was one thing, but asking a random woman off the street to make fun of him? That was plain…mean.

_Maybe I'm overreacting _He thought for a moment.

_Am I that paranoid?_

Slowly he rolled on his side and sighed, feeling sleep slowly covering him.

"Maybe things will be better tomorrow." He mumbled to the empty room.

_Heal me, I'm heartsick  
I'm hungry and I'm broken  
I'm haunted, and weeping  
The blood of heaven flowing like a river tonight  
Tears I can't fight on my own  
I'm a haunted, heathen, I'm hung and barely breathing  
The drowning ocean, snuff the sun in motion.  
There's a pill on my tongue, a shot from a gun, the bottle's bottom  
I'm lonely as a star._

-Adam Pascal, Heartsick.

* * *

**Ok, sorry it's kind of short. It's kinda sad too, MAO. But anyway, the next chapter will be better, I promise. Oh and you should check out the song Heartsick. If you've ever seen School of Rock, it's the last song Adam (or his character, Theo and his band No Vacancy) will sing at Battle of the Bands. It's great. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Keep up reviews!**

* * *

_Knock knock_

"Go answer the door, Maureen."

"Why don't you?"

"Because I'm tired."

"Oh and I'm not?"

It was a typical day for Maureen and Joanne.

Joanne had spent most of her day in court, while Maureen had spent most of her day on the couch, watching various soap operas.

"Ugh fine, you never do anything except--"

"Help the innocent?"

"Yeah, whatever. Like it's a big job anyway." Maureen grumbled as she got up.

Mimi impatiently waited outside, hearing the lesbian's conversation through the thin door.

Maureen briskly opened the door, surprised to see Mimi outside of it.

"Hey, Mimi, I--"

"We need to talk." Mimi interrupted, quickly walking in and closing the door behind her.

Maureen glanced at Joanne who shrugged, and followed Mimi as she made herself at home in the girlfriend's apartment.

Mimi sat back in the chair she had chosen to sit in and crossed and un-crossed her legs.

"Ok so Mark…he came into our loft today and he was all 'What did you and Maureen do?' and 'Why would Maureen and you do that to me?' and he was freaking out! So anyway, I'm straddling Roger and I was like 'What are you talking about?' and he was like 'You know what I'm talking about!' and--"

"Whoa whoa, hold up, Mimi." Joanne said, putting up her hands.

"Yeah! Wait...you were straddling Roger? Why..? Well besides the obvious…"

Joanne and Mimi both looked at a confused Maureen.

"Honeybear," Joanne sighed, rolling her eyes, "I don't think that's the point of her story."

"...but it's the interesting part." Maureen pouted.

Joanne shook her head and briefly closed her eyes. "Okay, what was this about Mark? He was upset...?"

"Yeah!" Mimi's eyes widened. "He claimed that Maureen and I asked some chica to go to his work and ask him for a latte. Therefore, making fun of him because of the song we sang. Remember…," Mimi paused and cleared her voice, starting to sing, "Maaark the latte boooy…bring us java--"

"Ooooh!" Maureen smiled "Bring us joy!"

"Yes that's the one." Mimi smiled. "Next time you can join in, Jo."

"I'm okay, thanks." Joanne said, trying to change the subject. "Okay so Mark is mad because….he thinks you guys asked some girl to order a latte? Did you?"

"Oh my GOD! Of course not." Maureen exclaimed. "Come on, I mean…like, how is that mean?"

"He thought we were mocking him." Mimi explained.

"Well….it would be kind of funny if we _did_ do it. But, wow…doesn't he trust us? We _are _his friends."

"Well, you guys were kind of rough on him about going home while we were at the Life." Joanne stated.

"Yeah…but….I don't know. I wish he didn't get that stupid job. Why can't he be job-less like the rest of us?" Maureen pouted.

"Um, I have a job." Mimi said, raising an eyebrow.

"…and so do I."

"And so does Collins." Mimi pointed out.

"And Roger did kind of had a job, didn't he?" Joanne asked.

"Yeah!" Mimi nodded. "I mean it was years ago but still."

"Well…that's three out of seven…that's not _too_ bad."

"Well it's four out of seven now."

"Yeah so it's like half of us." Maureen nodded her head.

Joanne blinked. "Not exactly but anyway….we_ need_ to help Mark. I mean…we have to try to understand what he's going through. I mean, a new job would be tough."

Mimi nodded. "What could we do?"

"Throw him a party! With cake!" Maureen suggested.

"You just want a cake." Joanne said, rolling her eyes.

"So?"

"Ok," Mimi chewed her lip, "We could throw a party, _with_ cake," Mimi glanced at Maureen who smiled and clapped her hands.

"Wont that scare him?" Joanne asked.

"What the cake? No…I think Mark likes cake." Maureen said.

"No, I mean the_ party. _It might scare him a little. I mean it's been a week since he's gotten his job…it's kind of late, isn't it?"

"It's never too late for a party." Maureen smiled, eyes widening.

"Fine, okay. We will have a party." Joanne said, giving in.

"Good!" Mimi got up off the chair. "I'll talk it over with Rog and Angel and Collins and see what we can come up with."

They all agreed to meet that night, sans Mark, at the Life to plan the party.

_Meanwhile……._

* * *

"Mark! Get your lazy ass out of your bedroom…phone's for you." Roger, as sensitive as he was, yelled to his friend who had spent the rest of his day in his room.

Roger waited a few minutes and when he didn't hear a reply, he rolled his eyes and picked up the phone receiver.

"I don't know what the hell his problem is. Give me a message and I'll leave it for him." He said into the phone. Roger hated talking on the phone. Roger really just hated talking.

"Fine," the voice said. "Tell him that it's his boss and he better get his act together or he's gonna be fired."

_Click_

Roger, in the middle of writing this down, raised an eyebrow and slowly set the phone down on the hook.

He scribbled out what he had written and replaced it with:

_Get your ass out to Starbucks cause you are gonna be fired. Your boss is crazy.  
__-Roger_

He set down the pen and got up, putting on a light jacket and grabbed some money off of the table.

"I need a drink." He said to the empty loft as he closed the door.

* * *

**Okay kinda sucky ending but it will get better, I promise. Please please please R&R!!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I want to first off thank LostOzian for the idea she gave me! Much credit to you! One day we shall have a party and you shall bring nail polish. Mwahahaha.  
****Disclaimer: Do I really look like J to the Larson to you? No, I didn't think so.**

* * *

Mark groaned and looked over at his old alarm clock. 

It was 9 o'clock.

"Shit."

He had slept the whole damn day.

Mark got up, slipped on his glasses and wandered out to their living room.

"Roger?"

No answer.

"Must be out." Mark mumbled, still half-asleep.

Mark noticed a note near their phone. This was weird, because no matter who called, Roger would never leave a note.

Unless it was important.

Mark picked up the note, squinting to read Roger's bad handwriting.

"Let…your….ace…to…Starbuck….cause…you are on…fire? Your…boss…is…crazy." Mark read out loud.

What_ was_ this?

The only part he could understand was the last sentence and Roger's signature.

Mark let out a confused "What the hell." And set the note down.

Either Roger was using again or he was drunk. Or he needed to brush up on his writing skills.

Maybe all three.

Mark shook his head and headed towards their refrigerator, grabbing a water bottle and sitting down on their couch.

He figured Roger was probably making out with Mimi somewhere. Or something like that. That's all he ever did.

Mark sat back and sipped his water. He had no idea what he was going to do.

He thought about the note. _Why the hell would Roger say my boss was crazy?_

Unless….

* * *

"Okay, so we are gathered here to talk about Mark's party." Maureen announced to everybody sitting around their usual table(s) at the Life Café. 

Angel was filing her nails, Collins was lighting a joint, Mimi was biting her nails and wondering if she ask Angel for her nail file, Roger was chugging down a beer, not really wanting to be there and finally Joanne, at the end of the table, held her chin in her hands and sighed.

"So…do we have any suggestions?" Maureen asked, trying to get everybody's attention.

"We could…get a cake." Collins suggested.

"We've already covered the cake thing, believe me." Joanne groaned.

"We could have balloons!" Angel smiled, her face lighting up.

"Balloons! That's good…what else?" Maureen added it to her list.

"If somebody says party hats I'm leaving this thing." Roger said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

Maureen pouted and scribbled 'Party hats' off her list.

"Oh! What should the cake say?" Mimi asked.

"Do we always have to talk about cake?" Joanne asked loudly.

Everybody stared at her.

"….I'm just saying…"

"Do you not like cake?" Roger asked, smirking.

"No…no…I like it. I just…don't want to talk about it all the time." Joanne cleared her throat. "Okay, so the cake should say…."

"Congrats Mark!" Collins suggested, taking a drag off his joint.

"Nah, anybody would expect that." Maureen said.

"Um…how about…. 'Keep bringing us Java! We love you, Mark!' ?" Angel smiled.

"Yeah!" Maureen smiled brightly and quickly wrote it down.

"Okay, I have another idea," Maureen said loudly, "I'll bring nail polish."

The chatter among the Bohemians stopped abruptly and everybody stared at Maureen.

"Nail...polish?" Joanne asked, slowly wondering if her girlfriend was high or not.

"Um, yeah. What's a party without nail polish?"

"Okay, that's it, I'm leaving." Roger set down his beer glass and stood up.

Mimi grabbed his hand and sat him down again.

"Okay…I don't think we should have nail polish at this party." Angel said carefully.

"But…why not?" Maureen pouted.

Roger was tempted to bang his head off the table.

"I just don't think it would be right." Joanne sighed, shaking her head.

"Fine, no nail polish…or party hats, for that matter." Maureen glared at Roger.

"Ok well I think that about covers it." Mimi said, trying to quickly wrap the whole conversation up.

Out of nowhere, Roger added. "I wonder how he is gonna take the news."

Everybody stared at him.

"What news, of the party?" Collins asked.

"No….his boss called….and told him to get his ass into Starbucks or he would be fired."

Everybody's mouths dropped open.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Maureen asked.

"Cause…." Roger tried to search for a reason but couldn't find one.

"Well does Mark know?" Joanne asked.

"Yes."

Everybody looked up to find a very confused Mark Cohen looking at them.

* * *

**Okay yeah filler chapters but I swear swear swear to Angel that it'll be better. I swear.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay this is the meat. The meaty part…of the…center. Of the fic. It's a meaty chapter. Okay it's gonna be good, that's what I'm trying to say. Enjoy!  
****Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I just rent. Heh,get it? I rent…..? –Laughs at the bad joke- Okay I'll just let you read the fic –grumble-**

* * *

After a few moments of awkward silence and everybody staring at Mark, Roger was finally brave enough to say something.

"….so you read the note?"

"You have the worst writing ever." Mark said finally. He felt a little intruding and slightly embarrassed and just a twinge of confusion was taking over him.

He got the feeling that they were talking about him.

Everybody smiled a little, except Mark.

"So, what did your boss say?" Joanne, a bit reluctant to ask.

"Well, I still have my job." Mark said, still feeling uncomfortable.

"That's good!" Angel smiled.

"Yeah but…"

"We didn't ask the girl to ask you for a latté, Mark. You're being paranoid." Maureen blurted out.

Joanne kicked Maureen from under the table and gave her the Just-Shut-Up-For-a-Moment look.

"Maureen is right…not about the paranoid part, though. We didn't ask her do to that. I don't even_ know_ who she is." Mimi added.

Mark glanced around at the table at his friends.

_Were they talking about me?_

Everybody sat and stood in silence for a few more minutes.

"Well, that's just what I wanted to tell you guys. I have to go anyway." Mark said, shuffling his feet and finally turning around to walk out.

"Should be stop him?" Mimi whispered.

Roger just shook his head.

"Let him be."

* * *

The next day Mark was sure to arrive at work bright and early. He even got up ten minutes earlier to make a good breakfast for himself.

As he entered Starbucks at exactly 7:00. Sadly, the first person he saw was Debbie.

_Crap_

They had talked the night before, and she had been pretty brisk with him, but she said he could return tomorrow, and if she found that he left early, his ass would be out of there.

_For a woman who is so overly friendly and loves high-fives, she sure knows how to be bitch. _Mark thought.

Debbie waved at him and smiled. She was behind the counter. Mark prayed that he didn't have to work with her today.

"Hiya, Marky boy!" Debbie greeted him.

"Hi Debbie." Mark forced a smile.

"Ima gonna be working with ya today cause Kelly is off!" She cried.

Mark forced another smile.

"Great!"

Mark took his place behind the counter, putting on his apron and pinned his name tag onto the front of it.

The place started to get busy about ten minutes after they had opened.

Mark would look over now and then at Debbie while he served the coffee, and thankfully, she seemed content with flirting with the customers.

Mark would check his watch now and then, and when it neared 8:11, he started to tense up.

8:11 was the exact time the girl he had scared off came in.

Finally, right at 8:11, she walked in.

Mark was finishing up an order when he noticed her walk towards his counter.

He looked at Debbie's line to see how long it was, and it wasn't too long, the only thing holding it up was Debbie writing down her number for the customer she had just served.

_Shit._

The girl seemed hesitant at first to even look at Mark, but Mark was sure to smile at her.

"Hi, what can I get you?" Mark asked, trying to make sure his voice was even.

"You won't freak out if I say a latte, will you?" She asked, smirking a little.

Mark blushed a very deep red. "No."

"Good, can I have a latte, please? Make it a double." She smiled.

"Sure." Mark smiled a little, but he could still feel his cheeks were red and hot.

As he went to prepare the latte, he figured that he might as well apologize for the whole fiasco that happened the last time, although he still wasn't sure if Mimi and Maureen were telling the whole truth.

Mark handed the cup over to the girl.

"I'm really sorry about what happened…I guess…I got paranoid…and I don't know…I always think my friends are out to get me." Mark laughed a little, loosening up. He made sure Debbie wasn't watching him, but luckily for him, she was on her third customer. Literally.

"That's alright, Mark." The girl smiled even more.

Mark glanced down at his name tag, blushing a little more.

"Um, I was wondering if you want to go out, I mean, like, not on a date or anything. But if you wanted to have a drink at the Life Café sometime?" Mark was trying not to mumble any of this, put it was proving to be hard.

_Please say yes please say yes_

"Sure!" the girl cried, her smile was contagious.

"Oh, okay then," Mark was sure he looked silly with such a large smile, "I didn't get your name?"

"It's Carol." She said, opening her wallet to get out money.

"Uh, keep the $3.55," Mark said, "The latte is on me."

Carol laughed. "How charming. _And_ it's a triple! Thank you, Mark."

Mark loved the way she said his name.

"I'll meet you there around 8, how does that sound?" He asked.

"Sounds great. I'll talk to you later." With a flip of the hair, Carol walked out of Starbucks with her free latte.

As soon as she was out, Mark scrounged in his pockets for $3.55. All he had was a dollar.

"Hey, uh Debbie," Mark leaned over to Debbie who, once again, was writing her number on a napkin and handing it to a customer.

"Yeaaah Mark?" She glanced over at him, her voice sounding like she was more then a little annoyed.

"Do you uh have three dollars and fifty-five cents I could borrow?"

"Sure." She blindly took out the money while still chatting it up with a customer.

Mark took the money and smirked.

_Best. Day. Ever._

* * *

**Okay really cheesy but meaty! Meaty cheesy! It's not over yet, though. –Evil laugh- R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Gahhh keep up the reviews!! I wish I could give you all cookies! Last filler chapter! –cheers- R&R!!  
Disclaimer: I don't own emotion, I rent! –Dramatic drums- **

* * *

"So are we still doing that stupid party for Mark?" Roger asked Mimi.

It was Mimi's day off at the Catscratch so she had decided to hang out with Roger, which was proving to be not too exciting.

"It's not_ stupid,_" Mimi paused to playfully punch Roger on the arm, "And yes, it's tonight."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Oh joy."

"Oh come on, Rog, it won't be that bad. It's not like we are making you wear party hats or anything."

"You better not be." Roger said, getting off their couch and shuffled toward their kitchen.

"I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those things."

Mimi smirked. "Aww, didn't you have birthday parties when you were younger? And your mom made you wear the hats?"

"I doubt it." Roger snorted. "I had cool birthday parties. Cowboys and Indians, man. Or Cops and Robbers. And once I had a Rock star birthday party…that's when I got my first guitar," he smiled proudly, "I was only seven."

"Wow." Mimi faked a gasp and rolled her eyes. "Well you still can't write a song."

Roger pretended to throw the water bottle he was holding at her, causing Mimi to duck and laugh.

Just then Mark walked into the loft; a huge smile was plastered on his face.

"What happened to you?" Roger asked, sipping his water.

"Nothing." Mark replied, making his smile even larger.

"Are you gonna yell at Mimi again because some chick ordered a drink you didn't like?" Roger smirked. "Cause that was pretty entertaining."

"Ignore him, Mark." Mimi smiled. She turned to face Roger and quickly flipped him off.

Mark just continued to smile and took off his jacket, laying it on a chair.

"So how was work?" Mimi asked, sitting back down on the couch.

"Really good." Mark replied. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell them about his date with Carol.

"Just good?" Roger asked, sitting himself down next to Mimi.

"It was _great_."

"Why was it great?" Roger pushed.

"Because pouring coffee is so exciting."

"I see." Roger smiled, not exactly satisfied with the answer. He figured he could get the real reason why Mark was so chipper before the end of the night.

"So, are you doing anything tonight?" Mimi asked Mark, trying to change the subject.

"I might." Mark smiled.

_BAM _Roger thought, smiling. _Mark had a date tonight._

Mimi pouted. "Well do you think you could hang out at the Life tonight?"

Mark turned around from pouring himself coffee. "_Why_?"

Mimi quickly looked at Roger who smirked. "Oh, no reason. Just wanted to know. I think you should though."

_Did they know about Carol? _Mark wondered as he stirred his coffee.

"Okay, I don't know." Mark shrugged.

"Try to convince him." Mimi whispered to Roger as she got up off the couch.

"I'll talk to you guys later." Mimi smiled as she left the loft, softly closing the door behind her.

"_So_..." Roger smiled wickedly once she had left.

"So?" Mark rolled his eyes and sat down on their chair beside the couch.

"Have a hot date tonight?"

"What? No. I don't know what you're talking about." Mark sighed, sipping his coffee.

"Well, first, you come home smiling like an idiot," Roger began ticking off the points on his fingers. "Then you say you had a good day at work_, and then_ when we ask if you are doing something tonight, you give the obvious answer."

"Which is?"

Roger used air quotes with his fingers. "_I might_."

"You know you are completely wrong, right?" Mark asked.

"No, I'm not. You need to start getting better at lying."

"I'm not lying and even if I _did_ have a date, I know I'd have endless questions from you."

"Whatever." Roger said, shaking his head.

The loft was filled with awkward silence until Roger decided to break it.

"So…..what's her name?"

"Carol." Mark mindlessly answered.

"I knew it!" Roger laughed.

Mark clamped his hand around his mouth.

_Damn it._

"Christ, Roger. Do you have to know everything?" Mark grumbled a little.

"Dude, it's a _chick_. Of course I do."

Mark rolled his eyes.

"So when are we meeting her?"

"Never." Mark spat.

"Oh come on. We have to meet her sometime."

"Well," Mark debated on weather telling Roger their planned date for tonight would help or hurt the situation, "I was going to bring her to the Life tonight…"

"I wouldn't do that."

"Why?"

Roger smiled. "Well I probably shouldn't tell you, but everybody planned a--"

Roger was cut off by their phone ringing.

"Bastard." Roger muttered as he picked it up.

"Don't you dare tell him about the party." Mimi's voice hissed over the phone.

Then there was a click.

A little stunned, Roger hung up the phone.

"Who was that?"

"Nobody."

"Anyway," Mark sipped his coffee. He was starting to like it again. "Everybody planned a what?"

"Nothing. Never mind. Just come to the Life tonight, okay?" Roger dismissed, grabbing his coat from their coat hanger and slammed the loft door behind him.

"Weird." Mark laughed to himself. He looked at the clock.

_Only three more hours to go._


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Really long, I'm sorry. Ahh just keep up the reviews! Oh and just for the record, I'd never stand up Mark ever. Ever ever ever.**

* * *

"So are we on schedule?" 

"What schedule?"

"I don't know, I've always wanted to say that."

Joanne and Maureen briskly walked towards the Life. Joanne, ironically, was carrying the large cake they had bought, and Maureen was carrying a bag full of balloons and streamers. She almost tried to sneak some nail polish and party hats but Joanne had caught her in the act.

"Do you think Mark will show up?"

"Well he better, I didn't spend twenty bucks on this cake for nothing." Joanne said.

Maureen rolled her eyes. "Well Mimi told me that she told Roger to try to convince Mark to come tonight...but if not, we could always just bring home the cake and eat it ourselves."

Joanne snorted. "You better watch your weight."

"Why, would you break up with me if I didn't?" Maureen pouted.

Joanne just smiled and almost tripped when Maureen bumped her with her waist.

* * *

Mark stood for two hours in front of his mirror, trying to find something to wear. 

"I feel like a girl." He mumbled as he tried on a different t-shirt for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Finally he decided on a pair of brown corduroy pants and a green shirt.

He glanced at his watch. He only had an hour to meet Carol at the Life. He was starting to get nervous.

He looked at himself in the mirror again, smoothing out his shirt and his pants, and started to comb his hair. He was starting to feel and act like Roger.

He went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He tried to remember the last time he was on a date.

Then it came to him.

His last date was with Maureen. It was when he found out she had left him for Joanne.

It wasn't really a date but she made it seem like one.

Mark shivered just thinking about it.

* * *

Joanne and Maureen entered the Life, Joanne was out of breath from carrying the heavy cake, but Maureen was hyper, as usual. 

Mimi and Roger were already there, and so were Angel and Collins. The only key person who wasn't there was Mark.

"So when is Mark showing up?" Joanne asked, setting the cake down on the table.

"I don't know. Soon." Roger replied, sipping his beer.

"Uh, didn't you give him a time?" Joanne was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Uh…wait…I don't know. Maybe? I can't remember."

"Don't worry, Jo, Mark will show." Mimi convinced, giving Roger a little slap on his shoulder.

"Whatever. Let's just decorate this place." Maureen smiled. She started to hand out balloons and streamers to everybody.

Angel smiled as she received balloons, Collins groaned when he was handed some streamers, Mimi requested balloons and when Roger refused to do anything, she stole some of Collins streamers and handed them to him.

"Do it or we won't be sleeping in the same bed for a month." She said through clenched teeth.

Roger grumbled a little and got up, unenthusiastically laying the streamers on chairs and anything else he could find.

"Who wants to make a Congrats sign?" Maureen asked, smiling.

* * *

Mark looked at himself for the last time in the mirror and made his way out of the loft, grabbing his bike along with him. 

As he walked down the stairs, his bike bumping along with him, he could feel his stomach start to ache.

_What if she doesn't show up? _He thought.

It's not like it'd be the first time he was ever stood up before.

Elizabeth Parnell in eighth grade was the first girl to ever stand him up.

Jocelyn Smith was the second. That was in ninth grade.

Mary Lewis, Janet Woods, Sam Lapierre and Jessica Thompson all stood him up in twelfth grade.

Sam claimed to have had a dentist appointment the night they were supposed to go out.

Mark still didn't believe it, even after she tried to convince him that her dentist stayed open longer.

He just hoped that it'd go smoothly, even though he was still wondering what Roger was talking about before.

He was sure about to find out...

* * *

"Pookie, who's the chick out there?" Maureen had noticed the girl standing outside the Life for a few minutes but she never really thought any of it. 

"I don't know…it's kind of suspicious that somebody is actually standing outside!" Joanne rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Don't worry about it. What do you think she's gonna do, invade the party at a public place?"

"Maybe." Maureen said, raising an eyebrow.

"Just go back to making people miserable, okay?" Joanne patted Maureen on her back and went back to trying to blow up a balloon.

Maureen just nodded her and continued to watch the girl outside.

"Are you going to do anything?" She heard Roger yell.

Maureen ignored him.

Then, all of a sudden, she noticed a familiar Albino and his bike walk toward the girl, smiling and waving at her.

_Mark knew the girl?_

Maureen went into panic mode, sucking in her breath and crossing her arms.

She watched as Mark started to talk to the girl, laughing while he balanced his bike up against the building.

The two of them laughing made Maureen feel sick.

The party was for Mark_ only,_ they didn't _ask_ him to bring anybody.

Maureen watched as Mark opened the door, letting the girl go ahead of him.

"Hey, Mark's here!" Collins announced.

Everybody smiled, minus Maureen, and gathered in front of their table as Mark walked in.

"Surprise!" Everybody, again minus Maureen, yelled as he got closer to the table.

Mark spun around from talking to Carol and stared at them.

"What the hell?"

"Mark, honey, aren't you surprised?" Angel asked, slowly sensing something was wrong.

"Did you tell them?" Mark ignored Angel's question and looked directly at Roger.

"Tell us what?"

"Who's the chick?"

"I knew we shouldn't have done this."

Questions and comments were flying at Mark and he was sure they must have been mocking him.

"Come on Carol, let's go somewhere else." Mark muttered, ignoring everything his friends were saying.

Everybody watched as Mark left and the girl, obviously confused, followed in toe.

"Okay, mental note. Never throw a party for anybody. Ever." Joanne finally said.

* * *

**Poor Mark.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Gahhh people, let me hug all of you! Thank you SO SO SO SO SO much for reviews. I love you all.  
****I might be slow on updates cause I just started a new year of school and my personal life has been kind sucky. But anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy, sorry it's so short.**

* * *

The night lasted way too long in Mark's opinion.

After the Life fiasco, he really didn't know where to go with Carol.

"We could go to a Starbucks." Carol joked.

Mark turned to look at her and when he realized she was kidding, he started to laugh.

"Yeah, like that'd work."

Carol smiled. "We could go back to your friends…"

"Yeah, they were congratulating me about going on a _date._" Mark muttered. "Stupid loud mouth Roger."

They were a few steps away from Mark and Roger's loft.

"Do you wanna come in? And have a drink? Like…coffee. Not like…_tequila _or anything…I don't wanna do _that_…I mean, not that I wouldn't want to, like…" Mark found himself flustered again.

"Oh not it's fine." Carol smiled and stifled herself from bursting into laughter. "I should get home anyway."

Mark nodded his head. "Do you want me to walk you to the subway?"

"No, no, it's okay." Carol shuffled her feet a little and looked down. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Okay. I'm sorry this wasn't much of a date."

"It's fine, we have another chance…another day." Carol smiled and turned, walking away.

Mark watched her walk, making sure nobody would come out of the shadows and jump her.

Finally when he could see the last of her shadow, Mark sighed and rolled his bike into the door of his building.

* * *

"Jo, can we keep the cake?"

The night had ended abruptly and awkwardly, leaving Joanne, Maureen, Mimi, Roger, Collins and Angel to take down the decorations and pop the balloons, which, no surprise, Roger and Collins loved doing.

Joanne finished rolling up the rest of the streamers, placing them in the bag. She glanced outside to see Roger and Collins, slightly drunk, holding Collins' lit joint near the balloon.

She looked back at her girlfriend.

"Shouldn't we give it to Roger to give to Mark?"

Maureen rolled her eyes. "_Please,_ we'd get way more use out of the cake then Mark would."

"I don't know--"

"_Pookie_."

Joanne sighed and finally broke down. "_Okay._ But if I hear one word about another party and another cake,_ you _are buying it."

Maureen giggled and hugged Joanne. "Thank youuuuu."

"Yeah yeah." Joanne rolled her eyes and continued to put away streamers.

"I wonder if Mark's okay." Mimi wondered out loud.

"He was being a bit dramatic if you ask me." Maureen rolled her eyes.

"_You _think _he_ was being _dramatic_?!? This from the girl who screams when she breaks a nail." Joanne snorted.

Mimi laughed and Maureen scowled.

"Whatever." Maureen lightly said, trying hard to not roll her eyes.

Finally Collins and Roger had came in from their balloon-popping experience.

"Have fun?" Mimi smirked.

"Yup!" Collins smiled and took a drag of a new lit joint.

"We better go." Roger said, turning to Mimi and slipping his arm around her waist.

"Us too." Angel said, carefully looking at the table, making sure everything was clean.

"Alright," Joanne sighed. "I hope Mark's okay."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow after work." Roger volunteered. "I just hope he won't go all spazzy on me."

"Who knows, Mark can be the king of spazzes." Maureen giggled, lifting up the un-opened cake and tightly holding it.

"So should we meet here again, sans party?" Mimi asked.

"What else do we do?" Collins snorted.

They all agreed to meet the following Friday, with Mark. Alone.

Just as they left Angel finally said what they had all been thinking.

"What happened to Mark?"

* * *

**Dun dun dunnnn.  
****Well okay we all know what happened to him, but you know…they don't.  
****R&R please!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Lots of M/R FRIENDSHIP in this chapter!! Ahh a few more chapters after this. I don't wanna stretch it out. I'm sorry for such the long delays, please stay tuned! School is getting in the way of it, I'm sorry.  
****Disclaimer: I own Roger's song. Bwahahahaha. I've been told before that I'm a really good MC (I can rap like no other). **

**

* * *

**The next day Mark got up at his usual time, but looking over at his calendar thumb-tacked to his wall, he realized it was his first day off. 

Mark let out a happy sigh and slid out of bed, slipping on his glasses and quickly got dressed. Last night he had gone straight to bed, not wanting to talk to anybody.

He was pretty upset at Roger. Ever since he met Roger, he knew he could never keep his mouth shut.

Like the one time everybody planned to surprise Maureen with a new cow bell after her old one had a tragic accident (Maureen accidentally left it on the floor one day and somebody happened to step on it. Collins denies it to this day). Roger decided to open his big mouth and let it 'slip' about the new one.

Or the other time when Angel had a little dark lipstick on her teeth and Roger asked her if she played hockey lately and caught the puck in her mouth. Not a pretty scene.

Mark's lips twitched into a smile as he thought of Roger's past screw-ups and it made him feel a little better. Still, he didn't want to have to face Roger _or _any of his friends.

* * *

Mark walked out into their living area to find Roger slouching on the couch with his guitar, writing a song. 

"Hey." Roger looked up and greeted him.

"Hey."

"I'm writing a song. Wanna hear?"

Mark looked skeptical as he poured his coffee.

"Sure."

"Okay! Wait--shouldn't you be in work?"

"It's my day off." Mark was thankful Roger hadn't brought up the party of the night before.

"Okay, whatever. So here's my song." Roger strummed his guitar and started to sing:

_"Oh my best friend is a spaz/ screams at us when we get him cake/ he has a girlfriend/ she's kinda hot/ but she must be a spaz too/ if she's going out with him." _

Roger chuckled at the song and then looked up to see Mark glaring at him.

"You aren't gonna throw that coffee in my face, are you?"

"Ha ha." Mark rolled his eyes.

Roger smirked and continued to work on the song.

Mark sighed and continued to sip his coffee.

He was trying to stay away from the topic of last night, because he _knew _Roger would find a way to bring it up.

Silence floated through the air and Mark thought about Roger's song.

"….there was cake?"

Roger looked up from his song. "What?"

"I-in your song…you mentioned…cake?"

Roger raised his eyebrow. "…yes..?"

"Oh." Mark tapped his fingers on the counter, sipping his coffee.

A few moments passed by.

"Was it good?"

Roger mumbled something and looked up again.

"I don't know, Maureen and Joanne took it home, I think. Don't you hate cake? I think that's what somebody said…"

"No, I love cake." Mark quickly said, finishing up his coffee and putting the cup into the sink.

"Fascinating." Roger muttered, rolling his eyes.

"..What did it say?"

Roger finally had enough. "What did WHAT say?"

"The cake. What did it say?"

"Shit, I don't know. 'Congrats Mark. Keep bringing the java.'? How the hell should I know?"

Mark's eyes opened wide. "…so the party was about me getting a _job_? Not a _date_?"

"Dude, why would we throw you a party for a date? I mean, we have lots of time to waste but not always on _you_."

Mark smiled and grabbed his jacket. "Thanks! I have to go talk to Carol…and Joanne and Maureen. Basically everybody. I'll be back in a bit."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Roger mumbled, putting the finishing touches on the song.

As he looked over it, it suddenly came to him.

"Holy shit! I finally wrote a half decent song!"

* * *

**LMFAO very random ending. Please please R&R!!!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thank you guys for so much input, especially my 'regulars' [You know who you guys are! Thank you so much! and my new reviewers! You guys are amazing and seriously, if you would have asked me two years ago to write something, I wouldn't even attempt it. Ego boost like whoa! LMAO! Thank you for so much support, you guys are amazing. Lucky thirteen!**

* * *

Mark's first stop was to Maureen and Joanne's loft to first apologize and then maybe, _maybe, _have some cake. Maybe. He wasn't too sure. 

He knocked on their door and he could hear the TV blaring from inside. He figured it had to be Maureen home alone, because he was certain that Joanne would probably never have the TV_ that _loud. Unless it was some court show.

He waited for a few minutes and when nobody answered, he tried again.

"What?!?!" He heard Maureen yell from the other side of the wall.

_Was she talking to me?_

"Uh, Mo? It's me. Mark." Mark practically yelled.

"…Who?"

Mark rolled his eyes.

"Maybe if you get up off the couch you'll see." He heard the volume decrease on the TV and some loud footsteps towards the door.

Maureen opened the door, her hair in a loose pony tail and was wearing a long sweater that closely fit her slim body, and Mark hoped that she was wearing shorts under it.

"Oh hey Mark." Maureen smiled and escorted him in.

"Hey Maureen." Mark found himself a seat on their couch that was covered in chip crumbs.

"So…what do you want? You didn't come to get cake, did you?" She asked, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow, sitting herself beside him on the couch and crossing her legs.

Mark paused. "Well--okay that wasn't the _entire_ point of what I came to talk about, but what I _did_ want to say was…I apologize for acting like such a--"

"Jerk?" Maureen blinked.

Mark frowned. "I didn't think I was _that_ bad."

Maureen rolled her eyes. "Well you brought that chick…what's her face? Ugh you could do so much better, anyway,whats her name? Karen? Colleen? K...Kiki?"

"_Carol,"_ Mark quickly corrected her. "And if you mean by better," Mark made air quotations with his fingers at 'better', "You mean_ yourself,_ you are _so _off base."

Maureen copied the air quotations. "Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes, and leaving her fingers linger in the air.

"You can take them down now."

Maureen pouted and did, but still left them twitching.

"Look, where is Joanne? I need to apologize to her too." Mark was slowly starting to loose his patience with Maureen, as he so often did.

"She's at work. Wait, shouldn't you be? Did you quit???" Maureen's eyes widened and a smile spread across her face.

"No, it's just my day off. Do you know when Jo will be home?"

"Oh," Maureen's smile turned into another pout. "Um, I don't know. Whatever time she gets home at…like…six? I don't know. I don't pay attention."

"That's for sure." Mark muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Mark contemplated about asking for cake. He did want some, but it was kind of random of him to ask for it.

He watched as Maureen stared at him, blowing a bubble with her gum and popping it with her finger. She repeated this a few times.

"So…" Mark awkwardly said.

"Um, I was kinda watching my soap but whatever. Do you want anything else?"

Mark raised his eyebrows. "…soap?"

"Like, soap opera? Drama?" Maureen stared blankly at him.

"Oh! Okay yeah, got it. Alright, uh, I'll call later to talk to Joanne."

"Okay, whatever." Maureen sighed and lay down on the couch as soon as Mark stood up.

Mark hesitated for a second as he went to the door, and he thought about how badly he wanted a little cake. Or just to see it.

He turned around.

"Maureen, can I have some--"

"Goodbye Mark."

Mark sighed and turned around towards the door.

"Bye."

* * *

**Yay so kinda short but I'm working 9 to 5 on this fic (well not literally. More like…4 to…5? Whatever XD). By the way, I love to write for Maureen. I'm a bit of a ditz like her so I always like to hint myself into her from time to time. R&R please!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Dude. I really hope to make 100 reviews. That would be the most amazing thing ever and I would hug all of you and make you anything you want (icons, banners, signatures, **_**anything**_**). Thank you so much for all of the support, you guys are amazing and this is going to be a longer chapter, I promise. Please please please R&R!**

* * *

Mark's next stop was Angel and Collins' building. He knew Collins had taken five week break to rest ("Teaching a bunch of loud mouths is hard work, it's like teaching to a bunch of Maureen's." Collins informed Mark a few weeks ago). 

As he arrived at their building, he wondered what their reaction would be to his apologies.

He had a feeling it was going to be a good one. Angel was always the most forgiving of the friends, which made him feel a hundred times better.

He knocked on their door twice and waited for an answer.

"Just a minute." He heard Angel's voice call out.

A few seconds passed and Mark heard Angel again.

"Oh Collins, stop it!" Then a giggle.

"Tom," a sterner Angel warned, "Somebody is _at the door_."

Mark blushed a little, wondering what he interrupted, and he could hear footsteps and some grumbling.

Collins roughly opened the door and his annoyed look turned into wide smile as soon as he saw Mark.

"Mark! What's up man?" Collins pulled Mark into the apartment.

Mark noticed Angel in the small kitchen that Collins and Angel owned, reading a recipe of some sort.

"Angel baby, Mark's here!" Collins announced, taking out a joint from his pocket and giving Mark a friendly shove onto the couch.

Angel quickly set down the recipe card she was reading and spun around, a huge grin that matched her boyfriend's appeared on her face.

"Mark!" She greeted, fixing her hot-pink micro mini and smoothing out her new purple blouse.

One of the first things Mark had learned about Angel was that she _loved _the colors pink and purple. So for one Christmas, Mark bought her a fuzzy purple sweater with pink fun fur around the collar that probably would have looked tacky on anybody else, but Angel made it look fabulous.

Angel sat herself beside Mark, neatly tucking her skirt underneath her and shook her head as she watched her boyfriend try to lit his joint with a fluke lighter.

"Baby there's a new one on the counter."

"But I _like_ this one."

Angel frowned. "The new one is just the same as that one."

Mark watched as Collins tried, once again to light the joint, but his turn was unsuccessful.

"No it isn't." Collins argued, continuing his attempt to light it.

"Look, I doubt Mark came here to watch you light a joint, so just _use the new one_."

Mark detected the same sternness in her voice as before. He smirked as he watched Collins roll his eyes and finally give in, walking to the counter and picking up the new lighter.

"Now," Angel gave a satisfied smile and turned to Mark. "What can we help you with, dear?"

"Well," Mark shifted uncomfortably on the couch, "I guess I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted. You know….freaking out on you guys when you tried to…support me." Mark looked down at the wooden floor. "A lot of confusion came out of it and I'm really sorry."

Mark looked up to see Collins successfully light his joint and Angel giving him a huge smile and a hug to match.

"Oh Mark, don't worry about it." Angel giggled and gave Mark a tight squeeze.

Angel turned to Collins after letting go of Mark. "Isn't Mark just the sweetest?"

Collins rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, just the best."

Angel sighed and turned back to Mark. "Ugh, don't worry about him. Take it from me, you _are _just the sweetest."

"Thank you." Mark blushed a little and fixed his scarf that Angel had tugged at bit while she was hugging him.

"We got you a cake, by the way." Angel said, chewing her lip a little.

Mark nodded. "I know. Roger told me."

"Well, I'll tell you what," Angel's eyes suddenly became wide and Mark knew she had a plan. "On Friday, so in a few days, we can all meet at the Life Café, and I'll ask Maureen and Joanne to bring it. And you can bring Carol!"

Mark smiled. "Okay. I was planning to see her after I talked to you guys. It sounds great."

"Fabulous!" Angel smiled.

"You promise you won't freak out on us this time? I ain't blowing up balloons for nothing." Collins grumbled.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Don't worry Collins, I won't."

"Good." Collins took a drag from his joint and let the smoke escape from his nose.

"Did ya see that? I learnt that trick from one of the students at the school I was teaching at!"

Angel wrinkled her nose in disgust and Mark chuckled.

"Ew, once again, ignore Collins, and okay, we'll get together then."

Mark smiled and got up, thanking Angel and Collins one last time.

"Oh!" Collins called out before Mark got to the door. "Make sure Carol isn't dating a lesbian if you guys continue to go out." Collins paused for a minute and then broke out in laughter.

Angel jabbed him in his side with her elbow and shook her head. "Ignore him, Marky!"

Mark rolled his eyes and smirked, and even after he left their apartment, he could still hear Collins howl with laughter.

Which made his smile even larger.

**

* * *

****Mark still needs to talk to Carol.  
****Roger….wrote a good……song?  
****And WILL this party turn out well? No tears?  
****I guess you'll just have to wait and see…..**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So a little drama here. And thank you to The Man for his amazing 100****th**** review. I thought the song at the end would be perfect for Mark.****Please please R&R!!**

* * *

Mark took the subway to Carol's. As he walked there, he tried to rehearse what he was going to say to her. 

So far he had "Hi." memorized and that was it.

A few minutes later, he reached what he hoped was her building. He had written her address down on a piece of paper, but somebody had spilled some water on it, causing the ink to run.

He nervously walked up the steps, and buzzed her apartment.

It took her a few minutes to reply, and as soon as she did, Mark could feel his heart skip a beat.

"Yes?" Carol's voice rang out through the intercom.

"C-Carol? It's Mark. Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Mark could almost feel Carol's smile.

"Of course! Its apartment A52 The elevator is a bit slow; I'll see you in a few minutes."

Mark grinned a little and opened the door to the building, feeling a gust of cool air.

He didn't care that the elevator was slow, in his opinion; it was way better then climbing about eight flights of stairs.

The elevator dinged when he reached Carol's floor, and he started to wonder exactly _what _he was going to talk about with her, now that he was here and all.

He paused knocking when he located her apartment number. He could hear voices inside the apartment, a male and a female. He recognized the female voice as Carol's, but she wasn't sure about the other voice.

Nervously he knocked on the door, wondering exactly_ who_ was the other half of the voices.

The door slowly creaked open and Carol appeared behind it.

"Hi!" Mark tried to peer in behind Carol but she was blocking him from seeing anything.

Her eyes twitched a little.

"Hey."

"You know, if you're busy, I'd be glad to come back." Mark offered.

"Well," Carol stepped out in front of the door and closed it behind her. "My boyfriend is here from DC…."

Mark's eyes widened. "_Boyfriend_?"

"Yeah, didn't I tell you about him?" Carol asked, twirling her hair around her finger.

Mark wasn't sure what to do. He didn't think crying would help the situation; neither would smacking himself silly about believe that _he _was actually dating _her_.

Mark nervously glanced around. "No, I don't think you did."

"Oh, that's weird. I thought I did. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

Mark shrugged his shoulders and forced a small, even smile. "It's nothing."

"You sure?"

Mark waved his hand like it was no big deal. "It's fine, trust me. I guess I'll talk to you later…?"

Carol nodded and smiled. "Of course."

Mark turned around but listened as she shut the door behind her. It made him cringe.

He crossed his arms and pressed the button for the elevator. When it wouldn't work, he finally decided to take the stairs.

He wasn't sure exactly what he was feeling.

Rejected was one word, surprised was another. He had no idea about her 'boyfriend in DC.' Why didn't she tell him this _before_ he made a fool out of himself?

Mark knew he would never understand women, but this was getting ridiculous.

He sighed as he hit the street, his whole body felt really heavy, and his head was starting to hurt.

Just when everything was going okay, this had to happen.

Now, all he had to do was explain this to everybody else, no questions asked.

"Right." Mark mumbled out loud as he disappeared among the crowded New York streets.

* * *

_It's okay, you're not alone  
__You're on the luckiest star that's taken you far away…  
I didn't know that she was breaking my heart  
She made it so warm and sweet  
A little numb, oh, a little more  
I know the story's getting old  
I know the time it takes to fall  
Sometimes it's all you need  
A kiss, a please, a wave goodbye,  
A dream, a drug, a kiss goodnight  
Sometimes it's all you need  
__-The Time It Takes to Fall  
__by Adam Pascal_


	16. Chapter 16  Last Chapter Kids

**A/N: Okay so last chapter. Yes, I know. Sadness. But I think I need to wrap it up before it's an actual chore to read/write the fic XD Thank you all for the support, I have no idea what my next fic will be. I'm pretty lazy at that XD Anyway, thank you and enjoy!**

* * *

By the time Mark got home, it was about 8 o'clock. He had just wasted the whole day talking to people.

He was surprised that Roger wasn't there, although he figured he was probably at Mimi's or something.

Mark hung up his coat and proceeded to the kitchen to make some coffee. As he searched around for a mug, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a note and Roger's barely legible writing on it.

"_Gone to the Life. Meet me there." _Mark read out loud.

"Great, now everybody is probably there." Mark sighed. He debated on going to the restaurant or not. He didn't really want to talk to anybody, but maybe if he surrounded himself around people, maybe, just_ maybe, _he would forget about Carol. And her boyfriend.

Mark made himself a coffee and rested on the couch, flipping through a magazine. It was around nine o'clock when he finally decided to go the café.

"Whatever happens, happens." He told himself.

* * *

"Is he here yet?" Maureen hissed to her girlfriend as she attempted to tie up a balloon.

Joanne glanced out the window and rolled her eyes at her girlfriend.

"For the fifteenth time, _no_, not _yet._"

Maureen pouted. "Don't use that lawyer voice on me, pookie."

Joanne grinned. "But I thought you liked it?"

Maureen smirked. "Only in the bedroom."

"You two are gross."

Maureen and Joanne turned around to find a disgusted Roger staring at them.

"Then don't listen to us, Roger-smoopy." Maureen laughed, letting go of the balloon and pinching his cheek.

Roger batted away her hand and shoved her away; rolling his eyes and picking up the balloon she was working on.

"It took me a long time to blow this up and now she ruins it." He muttered.

Joanne patted him on the back and laughed, but her voice soon turned serious. "Are you sure you left that note for Mark?"

"Mhmm."

"And you are _sure_ he'll see it."

"Well, he's wearing his glasses and he's blind as a bat without them so I'm sure he'll see it."

Joanne took a deep breath. "Good. You have no idea how much it took to get that cake away from Maureen. I just hope tonight we can actually eat it."

Roger nodded and glanced around the table. Mimi and Angel were once again putting streamers on the chairs around the table, Collins was smoking a joint and pretending to help them, and Maureen was now chatting with a few people.

Roger finished the balloon and gave it to Joanne to tie up, who in turn poked him in the ribs.

"What?"

"Mark!" She pointed to the familiar pale face walking across the street.

Roger brought this to the attention of the group, who all took their places at the table.

Mark opened the door to the café and saw all of his friends seated at their usual table.

"SURPRISE!" Everybody yelled, causing the rest of the customers to stare.

Mark laughed and looked around the table that was filled with streamers, and a huge cake sitting in the middle of the table. "You guys! You seriously didn't have to do this."

"Oh but _somebody_ said we should." Angel smiled, getting up and showing Mark the seat at the head of the table.

Mark sat down. "Who?" He asked, peeling off his jacket and setting down his camera.

Everybody leaned back in their seats. Carol, who sat at the end of the table, smiled weakly and gave a short wave.

"Carol?!?" Mark asked, astonished. "But, what about you boyfriend…?"

Carol laughed and got out of her chair, playfully hitting Roger on the arm. "Your friend Roger makes a really good boyfriend."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Roger smiled. "Well after you went and talked to Collins and Angel, Angel called me and told me what was going on."

"But I had to listen to him tell me that he wrote a song." Angel said, rolling her eyes.

Roger grinned. "It's a good song, but anyway, Angel asked me to go talk to Carol…."

"And when you came to my apartment, I didn't want you to know that Roger was there, so I came up with the lame excuse that he was my boyfriend from DC. I haven't even been to DC before." Carol laughed.

Mark could feel himself start to turn red. "So…you don't have a boyfriend….in DC, I mean."

Carol shook her head. "I have a boyfriend," she grinned at Mark, "But no, he isn't from DC."

"_Awwww_'s." were passed around the table.

Mark rolled his eyes and laughed, and Carol took her seat at the end of the table.

"So before we do anything," Joanne said, clearing her voice and standing up. "Do we all agree that we will stay here until we finish eating the cake?"

Everybody laughed and nodded.

"I'm serious here. Is everybody going to stay?"

Everybody stopped laughing and nodded again, more seriously this time.

"Good." Joanne smiled and cut the cake, giving each person a slice.

"This is really good cake." Maureen said between bites. "It's really too bad we had to share it."

Everybody looked at Maureen.

She shrugged. "Oh come on, like if you guys had cake like this, _you _would share??"

Mark smiled and looked up from his cake to notice that Carol was smiling at him.

He smiled back and the familiar tune of the song Mimi, Maureen and Angel had made for him came to mind.

"You know," he said, "I could get really used to being a latte boy."

FINI

* * *

**Yay!! Thank you guys so much for everything, please R&R.**


End file.
